The World Geography is dedicated to lists of trivia. We write about natural wonders, unusual tourist destinations and odd geographical facts. Also, every fact, destination or geographical term is accompanied with photo that has been chosen with great care.

Monday, January 14, 2013

8 Unique Waterfalls Around the World

A waterfall is a place where water flows over a vertical drop in the course of a stream or river. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. But, all of the waterfalls don't look exactly like this. There are waterfalls that are so unusual and unique, to provoke disbelief and amazement of visitors. These wonders of nature are very rare and still largely unknown to most people.

This is the Bigar Cascade Falls situated in Caras-Severin, Romania. It is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in this country, very unique on the way the water is spread and fall, in thiny shred of water. The waterfall is exactly on 45 Paralel which is unique again.

Eternal Flame Falls is highly dependant on rainfall and melt water. It is usually only flowing in early spring, or after long bouts of heavy rain. It reaches 30 ft (9 m) high, cascading over sloping shale in two segments. A small grotto, 5 ft (1,5 m) up from the creek bed, to the right houses the natural gas spring that can be ignited to create a flame of 4-8 inches (10-20 cm) in height. When flow is high, the water pours over the grotto, covering the flame and diffusing the light like a lampshade.

Eternal Flame Falls is truly one of the most unique waterfalls in the country and one of the few remaining natural areas that we find on our planet. It is said that the falls may be the only one of its kind on the planet. [link, map]

Incidentally, no river or any water body exists above it and the water simply gushes out from rock formations in a cliff at the edge of a hill. A great portion of the cliff is covered with grasses resembling large green curtains.

The clean and fresh water that falls from Asik-asik down to a river below is so cold that visitors could drink from it. The provincial government has constructed a road network towards the site of the spring falls, where compared before, vehicles can now reach the camp site. [link]

Despite their name, the Horizontal Falls are a fast-moving tidal flow through two narrow, closely aligned gorges of the McLarty Range, located in Talbot Bay. The direction of the flow reverses with each change of tide. As tides in the Kimberley can reach 10 metres (33 ft), a peak tide gives rise to a significant difference in the sea level on either side of each gorge.

The northern, most seaward gorge is 20 metres (66 ft) wide and the southern, more inland gorge is 12 metres (40 ft). Above each of the gorges are natural reservoirs between six and eight kilometres (4-5 mi) long which fill and empty with seawater through the gorge openings. The inner gorge is also partly fed by fresh water from Poulton Creek. [link, map]

Blood Falls was discovered in 1911. The Antarctica pioneers first attributed the red color to red algae, but later it was proven to be due only to iron oxides.This chemical compound in the water is a result of metabolism observed in unique microorganisms.

Salty water rich in iron leaves a small fissure at the Taylor Glacier. The Blood Waterfall takes its water from a nearby lake covered with a layer of ice which is 400 meters (1,300 ft) deep. Salt content in the water 4 times exceeds the one in the ocean. That's why the water in the fall never freezes even if the temperature is below -10 °C (14 °F). [link, map]

The base of this waterfall is noteworthy for its sharp rocks. New hexagonal column sections break off faster than the falling water wears down the edges. These basalt columns have provided inspiration for Icelandic architects, most visibly in the Hallgrímskirkja church in Reykjavík, and also the National Theatre. [link, map]

The Baatara gorge waterfall (Balaa gorge waterfall) is a waterfall in the Tannourine, Lebanon. The waterfall drops 255 metres (837 ft) into the Baatara Pothole, a cave of Jurassic limestone located on the Lebanon Mountain Trail. Discovered in 1952 by French bio-speleologist Henri Coiffait, the waterfall and accompanying sinkhole were fully mapped in the 1980s by the Spéléo club du Liban. The cave is also known as the "Cave of the Three Bridges."

Traveling from Laklouk to Tannourine one passes the village of Balaa, and the "Three Bridges Chasm" is a five-minute journey into the valley below where one sees three natural bridges, rising one above the other and overhanging a chasm descending into Mount Lebanon. During the spring snow melt, a 90–100-metre (300–330 ft) cascade falls behind the three bridges and then down into the 250-metre (820 ft) chasm. A 1988 fluorescent dye test demonstrated that the water emerged at the spring of Dalleh in Mgharet al-Ghaouaghir. [link, map]8. Hierve el Agua, Mexico

Hierve el Agua is set of natural rock formations in the Mexican state of Oaxaca that look like waterfalls. The site consists of two rock shelves or cliffs which rise between fifty and ninety metres from the valley below, from which extend nearly white rock formations which look like waterfalls.

The falls are formed by relatively small amounts of water which is oversaturated with calcium carbonate and comes to the surface through cracks or figures on the mountainside. The water has a temperature of 22 to 27°C (70-80 °F). As the water runs down the rock face, it forms large stalactites similar to those found in caves. The flow of water from the spring varies significantly between the dry and rainy seasons.

One of the cliffs, called the "cascada chica" (small waterfall) or the Amphitheatre, contains two large artificial pools for swimming as well as a number of small natural pools. One of the artificial pools is very near the edge of the cliff. The waters, with their high mineral content, are reputed to have healing qualities. [link, map]Bonus: Labasin Waterfall Restaurant, Philippines

It amazes me that the Reversing Falls weren't included in this list!!! The Reversing Falls are a series of rapids on the Saint John River located in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, where the river runs through a narrow gorge before emptying into the Bay of Fundy. The phenomenon of the Reversing Falls is caused by the tremendous rise and fall of the tides of the Bay of Fundy, which are the highest in the world. The tidewater is normal when it enters the bay at its widest point, but the farther up the bay it travels the more it changes. The low tide running out of the bay collides with the new, incoming high tide. As the bay tides begin to rise, they slow the course of the river and finally STOP THE RIVER'S FLOW COMPLETELY. Shortly after, the bay tides become higher than the river level and slowly, the river begins to flow upstream.The effect of this reversal is felt upstream as far as Fredericton, more than 80 miles inland. The tide rises and falls once about every 12 and a half hours.